South Island of New Zealand | Welcome to the new Beach House Site

NZ South Island 1989 Trip 1D

Sun, 06 Mar 2016 17:01:55 -0800

While on the South Island of New Zealand at the end of February, 1989, I went to the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. They had an exhibit that had Roald Amundsen's pocket knife that was used to carve the point of the flag pole that the Norwegian team planted at the South Pole on 14 December 1911.

I talked to 3 businessmen while in Christchurch, and they recommended that I celebrate the end of my New Zealand trip by going to the Beachcomber Restaurant in nearby Sumner. I took a bus there, and I had a nice dinner. The view from the restaurant was good also.

Note 1: The "New Zealand" web page can be viewed by selecting Sitemap->NewZealand from menu bar at top.

Note 2: The [NZ] "South Island" photo album can be viewed by selecting Sitemap->NewZealand->South Island of New Zealand from menu bar at top.

Christchurch, NZ (1)

Christchurch, NZ (2)

Christchurch, NZ (3)

Christchurch, NZ (4)

Christchurch, NZ (5)

Christchurch, NZ (6)

Christchurch, NZ (7)

The Beachcomber Restaurant, Christchurch, NZ

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Plane ride from Christchurch to Aukland

NZ South Island 1989 Trip 1C

Sun, 06 Mar 2016 16:55:55 -0800

While on the South Island of New Zealand in February of 1989, I was on a tour bus between Queenstown and Mt. Cook. The bus driver informed us that there were several seats still available for a site seeing plane ride around Mt. Cook. I decided to sign up for the flight, and I am glad I did, as the views of Mt. Cook that day were spectacular!

Afterward, I continued on to Mt. Cook. I stayed overnight at the campground, which was about a 20 minute hike from the Hermitage Hotel.

The next day I went to the Ranger Station at Mt. Cook. My friend Sheila from Canada was there also. We watched a slide show about climbing Mt. Cook. I thought it was very good. I was surprised to see a poster on display that had some written words that were attributed to Chief Seattle. It stated that it was one of the nicest things ever written about the environment.

Note 1: The "New Zealand" web page can be viewed by selecting Sitemap->NewZealand from menu bar at top.

Note 2: The [NZ] "South Island" photo album can be viewed by selecting Sitemap->NewZealand->South Island of New Zealand from menu bar at top.

NZ South Island 1989 Trip 1B

Sun, 06 Mar 2016 16:47:54 -0800

While on the South Island of New Zealand in February of 1989, I drove on Highway 6, which is on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. There is some spectacular scenery along this highway. A bike rider told me to check out Pancake Rocks, which I did.

While on the South Island, I did some hiking and fishing in the Mt. Aspiring area. I hiked to Junction Flats. The view from the Flats was spectacular!

I decided to hike the Greenstone Track. I started it from the Glenorchy end. I had a tent, which I used 2 nights during the hike. On the 3rd night, I had a reservation at Howden Hut. I encountered some NZ rain on this hike, and I had to dry out my tent when I got to the hut. While still in Seattle, Chuck and Bonnie had told me the rain in NZ can be severe. While on the South Island, I learned there are places in NZ that may average more than an inch of rain per day over a year. At the end of the hike I caught the 10:25 am Inner City Bus, which took me to Milford Sound.

I went on a 2 hour boat ride at Milford Sound. The scenery was spectacular! After the boat ride, I took the bus to Queenstown. During the bus ride, I visited with a Canadian named Sheila. We arrived at Queenstown at 8:00 pm.

NZ South Island 1989 Trip 1A

Sun, 06 Mar 2016 16:35:55 -0800

On February 10th, 1989, I took the ferry from Wellington, NZ (North Island) to Picton, NZ (South Island). The next day I spent some time in Nelson. I hiked up "Botanical Hill", which had a nice view. On the way back I noticed a cricket game was being played. I watched it for about a half hour. After about 20 minutes, the game stopped. I asked someone nearby what was going on, and they explained to me that the players were taking a tea break… I continued my walk toward town. I stayed in Nelson until 2:30 pm.

Based upon Jody and Ron's recommendation, I drove to Collingwood specifically to take the Farewell Spit Safari tour. On February 12th, I caught the 5:30 am bus to go to Farewell Spit. This trip took 5 and 1/2 hours round trip. We got to walk up the lighthouse, which was nice. And we walked up a sand dune also.

Note 1: The "New Zealand" web page can be viewed by selecting Sitemap->NewZealand from menu bar at top.

Note 2: The [NZ] "South Island" photo album can be viewed by selecting Sitemap->NewZealand->South Island of New Zealand from menu bar at top.